The Handmaid's Tale Essay - Critical Essays

Topic #1
Many democratic governments have been overthrown in the Twentieth Century. The Handmaid’s Tale shows how the government of the United States might be overthrown by a fanatical group and a dictatorship established. Consider how a government such as Gilead is created and how those in power attempt to maintain their control.

Outline
I. Thesis Statement: The Handmaid’s Taleillustrates that a dictatorship can be established by playing upon people’s fears and dissatisfaction with societal conditions and that, once dictatorial controls are instituted, fear tactics can be asserted to attempt to keep the government in place.

III. Measures taken to seize control of the government and the society
A. Use of media to promote dissatisfaction
B. Assassination of the President and Congress
C. Mass firing of all women and seizure of their assets
D. Savage repression of protests

IV. Fear tactics used to maintain control in Gilead
A. Regimentation of society
1. Women assigned to groupings according to theirfunction
2. Society in uniforms, based upon groupings
3. Elimination of choice in daily life
4. Rivalries and jealousies between different groupings encouraged
B. Indoctrination
1. The Red Center
2. Misinformation on television, the only remaining information medium
3. Enforced illiteracy
4. Society involved in the punishment of offenders (Salvagings)
C. Creation of paranoia and fear
1. Meetings, even most conversations, banned
2. Threat of banishment to the Colonies
3. Public display of execution victims
4. The Eyes/the black vans

V. Resistance to government of Gilead, despite the repressive controls
A. War in Latin America and in various states
B. The Mayday resistance
C. The Underground Female road

VI. Conclusion
A. The manipulation of societal fear in establishing and maintaining a dictatorship
B. The inevitable vulnerability of a dictatorship due to the ability of resistance movements to move beyond fear

Topic #2
Sexism and misogyny exist when women are not granted the same rights as men, when women are restricted to the domestic sphere, and when women are valued primarily for their functionality rather than their...

(The entire section is 1123 words.)

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